Admirals find rhythm against Rebels
When the junior tailback turned around, quarterback Hayes Sharp was there to greet him.
The pair celebrated Haag’s one-yard touchdown run, which followed a gritty 60-yard drive that included a 4th-and-8 conversion by tailback Carter Collier.
“Those,” said head coach Geoff Courtney, “are winning plays. That was big, to see our guys finish and impose their will.”
That moment stood out among several in Farragut’s second preseason scrimmage last Friday, Aug. 7, against the West Rebels at Eddie Courtney Stadium.
Each team punched in two scores, though both of Farragut’s came during the varsity portion of the action.
“I thought we made good strides,” Courtney said. “It was more like a game situation, getting eight or nine series in and mixing in the ones, twos and threes. A lot of reps for a lot of guys, and I thought the things we talked about earlier in the week were addressed offensively and defensively.
“I saw great effort from a lot of guys. Still a ways to go in execution on offense, and defense, we need to work on gang tackling and getting the ballcarrier down. Saw the improvement we needed to see.”
That improvement did not come as quickly as either team hoped, as a 30-minute lightning delay pushed the start back to 6:30 p.m.
“We’ve dealt with it twice for practice this week, so tonight, we had to go back up,” Courtney said of the weather. “Luckily it cooperated after that 30-minute delay, but that does give us a taste of what we might encounter with some of these late summer storms. You try not to over-plan with that, and you want to make sure the kids are off their feet, but try not to overdo it unless it’s an extended break.”
Once the action did begin, Farragut pounded the ball for nine straight run plays — only for Sharp to unfurl a 35-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Johnny Jacobs.
It was a fleshed-out version of Farragut’s new flex bone offense, which debuted the previous Friday, July 31, against Greeneville.
“Yeah, this offense will give that to you,” Courtney said. “Heavy run action, run action pass, we’re hoping it will be successful attacking the defense at all angles in the run game. Then when we do throw it, to get guys open like we did. He was wide open behind the defense, so that was good to see. Hayes has worked hard at that, and it’ll be a big part of our offense.”
Defensively, Thatcher Cherry started the night by recovering a West fumble on the Rebels’ opening drive. He finished with a couple more tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry, constantly threatening the visiting offense.
“He was around the ball a lot,” Courtney said. “It wasn’t hard to notice him on the field. We need to do better at first contact, getting more around him and wrapping the ball up, and we didn’t have Kaden Renfro either. So it was good to see some other guys get those reps, but he will be back next week.”
He added that the FHS secondary saw improvement too, while Cameron Beaver and Bailey Pyle proved their mettle on the defensive side, too.
The Farragut offense was not able to find the end zone on its second trip down the field, and West capitalized with a touchdown on its next series to tie the score.
Undeterred, the Admirals marched down the field on their next possession, bouncing back from a fumble early in the series.
Once they crossed the 50-yard-line, a pass interference call pushed the ball to the Rebel 31. Carter Collier took the ball six of the next seven plays, even muscling his way to a first down on fourth down with 8 yards to gain.
That put the ball at the 4-yard-line, and Collier drove the next 3 yards before Haag punched in the touchdown.
“He’s been good with what we’re doing,” Courtney said of Collier. “Very productive. We’ve been in this six weeks now and knew he’d have a great year, whatever we did. Pound for pound, he’s probably one of our most explosive guys in the weight room, so I was pleased to see him get going and get some confidence.”
In a game, Collier would have stayed on to kick the extra point since primary placekicker Caleb Bell was not there Friday.
“But with the number of carries he got, we didn’t want to trot him out there and maybe have him pop a hamstring,” Courtney said.
The FHS defense came through with yet another stop, and Cruz Williams delivered a punishing run on the next drive before Mason Swor popped a West receiver with a nice hit.
The Rebels found the end zone again on that drive, but Carter Maltais made a leaping interception to stop West on its next trip down the field.
Not all was perfect, as FHS muffed a punt during special-teams work before another fumble followed during the second-string offense’s period.
But Sharp finished the night slicing a pass to Max Hilton in coverage, and Abram Shelton made a couple of late stops for the Farragut defense.
The Ads will look for more production this week, traveling to Walker Valley for a full scrimmage on Thursday, Aug. 13.
Then they will face the same West team Friday, Aug. 14, during the Knoxville Orthopedic Clinic’s Kickoff Jamboree at Bearden High School.
“Walker Valley will give us a taste of the full Friday night experience — full coin toss, everything live except kicks at the very end, playing the starters for the first two quarters,” Courtney said. “That’ll give us a good tell for going on the road, and we’ll have the band and cheerleaders, too. Then having the jamboree Friday, so it’ll be another cap to the week.”
